Shoe-stiffener



HARRY n. iaiicixwriri,`

Doviin, NEW HAMPSHIRE;

OF BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS, AND EDWARD E. COX, OI'

SAID COX ASSIGNOR T0 SAID BECXWITH.

sHoE-srIrFnNEa specification of Letter.; Patent. Patented Sept. 27, 1921.

Application led January 8, '19194. vSerial No. 269,475.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that we, HARRY H. BEoKwi'rH and EDWARD E. Cox, citizens of the United States, respectively residing at Brookline, in the county of Norfolk and State of vMassachusetts, and at Dover, in the countyx of Stratford andState of New Hampshire, ave invented new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Stifeners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of materials which may be employed for various purposes in the arts, such for example, as stiffeners for the ends of footwear, etc. Such materials usually comprise a foundation and a substance which will impart a certain stiffness thereto, but which under certain'conditions may first be softened to permit the material to be molded or shaped, and then be permitted to reset in its molded lor shaped form. As illustrative of the general character of the materials referred to, it has been proposed, with commercialsuccess, to impregnate a sheet of wool felt with. Montan wax or other resinous waxy asphaltic or hydrocarbon substance while the latter is in a liquid condition, and then, after the stiftening compound has hardened or set, to cut from the sheets blanks of proper form to be used as box-toe or counter stiffeners. Such blanks are stiff and substantially resilient, but, upon being heated to a temperature of say 160O to 180 F., become soft and limp so that they may be molded about the end of a shoe last. The material which forms the subject of this specification, while capable of various uses, is however also particularly applicable for the manufacture of stieners for box-toes and counters, and will be described in connection therewith.

Speaking generally, the invention comprisesnot only the new material, but also the process of producing it. The material consists of a foundation layer of any suitable character, such as a textile fabric, and a coating interlocked therewith or adherent thereto; the coating itself consisting of a mixture of ber and a suitable, readily fusible, resinous compound, which when cold imparts stiffness and relative rigidity to the foundation, but which Ywhen subjected to relatively low heat becomes soft. Any suitable disintegrated ber may be employed such as that obtained from rags (woolen or cotton), ock, or cellulose fiber, z'. e., ground wood, suliite, or sulfate pulp, etc.

In practice the fiber and the stiffening compound, the latter if desired in a granular or finely comminuted condition, are thoroughly 1 nterm1xed, and are spread upon the foundation layer and are caused to adhere thereto ,or interlock therewith. This maybe accomplished either by heating the mixture until the stiifening compound becomes liquid or plastic and adhesive, spreading the mixture in that condition on the foundation, and pressing it thereon by` pressure rolls (which may be chilled if desired), or else the mixture may, in a granular or comminuted form, be spread upon the foundation, and then passed through heated rolls to soften the mixture to a plastic adhesive condition and cause it to cohere in a mass and to adhere to the foundation layer.

n For making a material which may be cut into blanks to be used as toe-boxes or counter stiffeners, we preferably employ as the foulidation layer, burlap, on one face provided with long-ibered cotton or wool flock which mats under pressure to cover the interstices in the burlap and forma-smooth face. Such a foundation-is preferably impregnated or saturated with a resinoiis compound. For

this purpose, we use any suitable fusible.

resinous material (meaning thereby to include such substances as carnauba wax, Montan wax, shellac, paraffin, copal,.Kauri gums, pitch or asphalt or mixtures thereof) which may be softened or liquefied without decomposition by the application of heat. The impregnating compound should be applied in a liquid condition, and to this end it may be dissolved in a suitable volatile solvent or heated to the melting point.

After the sheet of flock-faced burlap has been drawn through the saturating tank and has been passed through squeeze or pressure rolls to remove the excess compound and to compact the long-ibered Hock in a mat u on the face of the foundation, it is coole or dried to permit the compound to set more or less, and is then ready for the application of.

the coating.

The coating compound, of any of the suiteither by the use of a solvent or by the ap lication of heat, so that it may be spread in the desired thickness upon the 'foundation by means of suitable machinery. After the mous materials hereinbefore referred to,.

coatin is applied, the sheet is passed throug rolls, which in the case stated may be chilled or heated `as desired. When the coating mixture is still in a coldfcomminuted condition, it .may be spread from a hop er upon the traveling sheet, and the sheet with the la er'of the desired thickness of the mixture t ereon is then passed through heated .rolls which compact and heat the mixture to cause it to form a cohesive mass and to interlock with and adhere to the foundation sheet. Additional calender rolls. may be employed for imparting a relatively smooth glazed surface to the coating.

Heretofore, in the manufacture of stiffener material, a sheet of wool felt was impregnated with some one or more of the resand blanks were died or stamped from the sheet to form the stiffener blanks of the desired shape. As already explained, because of the. conformationof such blanks, there 'has resulted a great deal of waste material for which no commercial use has been made. We have found that this waste material may be employed in preparing the coating compound for the manufacture of one embodiment of the present invention. Such waste material consists of the wool fiber (also cotton, if the latter be used for adulterating the wool felt,) and the resinous compounds, and,

when cold, is stiff and somewhat brittle. It

is ldisintegrated and oomminuted by any suitable machinery, such as a grinding machine or ball mill, while it is cold, and, after it has reached the desired state of comminution and the fibers have been disintegrated, it may, whilel still cold, be applied to the sheet in the `manner herein described, and heated by the rolls to constitute a cohesive and adhering coating on the foundation.

'It is highly desirable, in the manufacture of shoe stiffeners, that the resinous material should not soften at moderate temperatures, that is, when exposed to blood heat or solar heat, but should soften at a temperature ofl say 160 to 180 F. more or less, so that, in the manufacture of the shoe containing the blank, the 'latter may be quickly rendered Fig. 2 vrepresents more or less conventionally a section therethrough on alarge scale.

Thefouxidation layer a. as shown consists of burlap' which han on one face a mat b of flock, the fibers of which are interlocked with the burlap. Such burlap is available commerciali As shown, burlap has been impregnate with a resinous compound having the characteristics herein described, and the flock has been com acted into a protectinglayer on one face t ereof. On the other face, there is a layer c consisting of fiber and resinous stiti'eningcompound, such as herein described.4 The blank which is illustrated is for stiii'enin the box-toe of a shoe, and it has been skive along the edge as at d. Of course, applied to both faces of the foundation sheet.

Having thus ex laned the nature of our said invention and) described a way of making and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, what we claim is:

1. A stiff resilient sheet comprising a foundation of flexible woven fibrous material and a coating adherent on the face thereof and interlocked therewith, said coating consisting cfa mixture of disintegrated fiber and a resinous compound which is stiff and hard when cold but is capable of being softened, and then setting in a rigid state.

2. A stiff resilient shoe stiifener blank comprising a foundation of flexible woven fibrous material and a stifening coating, said coating consisting of a mixture of disintegrated Iber and a fusible resinous compoundcapable of being softened by the application of heat.-

3. A stiff resilient shoe stiffner blank comprising ,a textile foundation saturated with a resinous body, angl a coating consisting of an adherent layer of disintegrated fiber and a resinous compound in admixture, and capable of being softened and then setting, whereby said blan'k may be molded on the end of a last. '4. A resilient shoe stifi'ener blank comprising a foundation of burlap and a coating thereon consisting of a mixture of disintegrated fiber and a resinous compound, said coating rendering said foundation stiff but vbeing capable of softening upon the application of heat, so that said blank-may be molded into form and then permitted to set.

5. A stifi'ener blank comprising a foundation consisting of flock faced textile material impregnatedwith a resinous compound and having the flock matted upon the face thereof, and a coating interlocked with the other face thereof and consisting of a mixture of disintegrated fiber and a binder adapted to be softened by heat.

In testimony whereof we have alixed our signatures.

HARRY BECKwIT-H. EDWARD E. Cox.

if desired, the coating may be 

